What is the Charge on HCl (Hydrochloric acid)? And Why?

The Charge of HCl (Hydrochloric acid) is 0.

But the question is how can you say that the charge on HCl (Hydrochloric acid) is 0?

Well you can say this by calculating its formal charge.

So let’s calculate the formal charge of HCl (Hydrochloric acid).

If you are a visual learner like me, then here is a short two minute video for you.

Calculating the formal charge of HCl using lewis structure

In order to calculate the formal charge on HCl (Hydrochloric acid), you should know the Lewis dot structure of HCl (Hydrochloric acid).

Here is the lewis structure of HCl.

Now using the above lewis structure of HCl, you have to find the formal charge on each atom that is present in the HCl molecule.

For calculating the formal charge, you need to remember this formula;

Formal charge = Valence electrons – Nonbonding electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2

You can see the bonding and nonbonding electrons of HCl from the image given below.

So now let’s calculate the formal charge on each individual atom present in HCl.

Formal charge on Hydrogen atom:
Valence electron = 1 (as it is in group 1 on periodic table) ^[1]
Nonbonding electrons = 0
Bonding electrons = 2

So according to the formula of formal charge, you will get;

Formal charge on Hydrogen = Valence electrons – Nonbonding electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2 = 1 – 0 – (2/2) = 0

So the formal charge on hydrogen atom is 0.

Formal charge on Chlorine atom:
Valence electrons = 7 (as it is in group 17 on periodic table) ^[2]
Nonbonding electrons = 6
Bonding electrons = 2

So according to the formula of formal charge, you will get;

Formal charge on Chlorine = Valence electrons – Nonbonding electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2 = 7 – 6 – (2/2) = 0

So the formal charge on chlorine atom is 0.

Now you can see that all the atoms of HCl have 0 formal charge. 

This indicates that the overall HCl (Hydrochloric acid) molecule also has 0 charge and hence it is a neutral molecule.

I hope you have understood the above calculations for the formal charge of HCl (Hydrochloric acid). 

Check out some other related topics for your practice.

Related topics:
Charge of CH3
Charge of Rubidium (Rb)
Charge on CN (Cyanide ion)
Charge of Selenium (Se)
Charge of Vanadium (V)